Not even two minutes into the first overtime period, Mount Ida College men's soccer senior captain Hermes Lima (Boston, MA/West Roxbury) fired a shot from the top of the 18 yard box that was redirected by freshman Phil Basile (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) beating an off balance goalkeeper into the right corner of the net propelling the Mustangs to their first victory of 2010 winning 4-3 over visiting 2009 defending Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) champion St. Joseph's College (ME) on Columbus Day. The Mustangs, who snap an 11 game losing streak, scored two goals in the second half after trailing 3-1 at the midway point sending the match into overtime. Mount Ida final gets in the win column improving to 1-11-0 and capture their first conference victory of the season (1-5-0). The Monks fall to 6-6-2 overall and drop their second GNAC loss of the year standing at 3-2-1.
The visitors struck first in the eighth minute of the contest on a well placed through ball by Monks senior Paul Robins (Cornwall, ENG/The Poltair School) to senior Joe Happnie (Rockland, MA/Rockland) sliding a shot under Mount Ida netminder Steven Enright (South Kingston, RI/Prout) for the immediate 1-0 advantage.
Mount Ida countered 14 minutes later on a well placed chip inside the left side of the 18 yard box by freshman Kevin Custodio (Dartmouth, MA/Great New Bedford Voc. Tech) to freshman Carlos Rojas (Stamford, CT/Westhill) who was flying to the middle of the box. Rojas finished off the score on a well placed header that he flicked into the left corner stalemating the game at 1-1 at the 22 minute mark for his first of two scores.
The tie was short lived as the Mustangs watched the visitors convert their second goal of the contest not even a minute later. Following a well placed corner kick in the box, Mustang goalkeeper Enright took a point blank shot from Monk freshman Ross Suleski (Amesbury, MA/St. Thomas Aquinas) that bounced off Enright's chest right to the foot of Suleski. Suleski proceeded to fire a second attempt into the back of the net regaining the advantage up 2-1.
St. Joe's did not let up offensively scoring again at the 33 minute mark on a perfectly placed head ball into the right side by junior Jesse West (Sheldon, CT/Enosburg Falls) on a cross from junior Jack LaFreniere (Alton, NH/Prospect Mountain) to take a commanding 3-1 lead going into the break.
Mount Ida dominated the second half offensively and it all started with Rojas's second goal of the game. Following a yellow card by the Monks right outside their box on the top left corner, Rojas set up the free kick and snipered it into the bottom right of the net cutting the visitors lead to 3-2 at the 66 minute mark in the second half.
The Mustangs had a chance to tie the game earlier in the 75th minute after freshman Steve MacDonald (Medford, MA/Arlington Catholic) battled hard for a ball in the box and broke free firing a shot on net that sailed high for a missed opportunity.
But Mount Ida never gave up and eventually two minutes later they were rewarded. A hard slide tackling foul by the Monks outside the box handed the Mustangs a free kick on the right side of the 18 yard box that was placed on the line. Rojas took the free kick chipping the ball high in the air right in the middle of the net. Sophomore Spencer Hastings (Orlando, FL/Timber Creak) jumped up and popped a head ball into the right side tying the game at 3-3 erasing the visitors commanding two goal lead with 11 minutes to go in regulation.
With no legitimate opportunities for the rest of the second half the game would head into overtime. The Mustangs would eventually prevail less than two minutes in the extra time on Lima's redirected shot by Basile for the 4-3 GNAC victory.
In a very physical match up, the head referee gave out a total of six yellow cards. Mount Ida goalkeeper Enright played well and kept his squad in it denying eight Monk shots while St. Joe's junior goaltender Nick Campasano (Goffstown, NH/Goffstown Area) stopped five.
The Mustangs will host visiting non-conference foe Elms College this coming Thursday night starting at 3:30 p.m.